HOLYOKE — The Holyoke Community College women’s volleyball team may have fallen short of a national title, but the season was far from a failure.
The Cougars lost in the first round of the National Junior College Athletic Association Division lll Volleyball Championship in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
They entered as the 16th seed and faced off against the number one seed and two-time defending champions, the Dallas College Eastfield Harvester Bees.
Although they lost in three sets, HCC women’s volleyball Head Coach Ju’wan Collins said that one of the biggest takeaways from the tournament was that the Cougars scored a total of 31 points against the Harvester Bees in those three sets. The number nine seed, meanwhile, scored a total of 32 points in the Harvester Bees’ next matchup.
“Once my team saw that, you could really see how much of a mental game that they put on themselves, instead of it being mental and physical, and then just going in and trusting our ability to play. If we played them again, I think we would put up a much better fight and think that mentally, we would be more in tune with the game,” Collins explained.
The Cougars finished their season with an overall record of 20-5. They captured the NCJAA Northeast Division Championship after defeating Community College of Rhode Island 3-1 in the regional title game on Nov. 2 at home in the Bartley Center.
This was the Cougars’ first time in 11 years winning the NJCAA regional championship and first trip ever to a national volleyball championship tournament.
“This is the first time in school history that we have made it to the D3 tournament, and the team is very excited,” Collins said. “This team has been led by five incredible sophomores that really set the tone in the beginning of the season, really giving our freshman a competitive atmosphere.”
Collins said that his team came into this season with something to prove after losing last year on their home court.
He said, “Losing in the finals in 2024 on our home court wasn’t the way anyone intended to go out, so this year from the jump, our sophomores had their eyes set on what they wanted to accomplish this season.”
The roster consisted of Jaylanie Nieves, Aldene Scott, Nyvaeh Fisher, Desirae Destiny Dejaria Robinson, Isabelle Garutti, Shaliyah Toledo-Cruz, Khimorah Arias, Sehkinah Delvalle, Alianiz Bonilla, Brittany Sumba, Serymar Santos and Caidence White.
Collins reflected on defeating the Community College of Rhode Island to secure the championship. It was a team the Cougars faced for the third time this past season.
“This final match facing CCRI was intense,” Collins said, “It was a personal match for everyone. We knew that CCRI was going to come after us with everything that they had. Beating them in the regional semifinals in 2024 and then in a three straight set our first matchup this season, then going 5 [sets], I knew whoever played the more disciplined game would be victorious.”
Discipline is one thing Collins said he wanted his team to focus on this year, because that’s what leads to a strong defense.
“We pride ourselves on being disciplined and committing ourselves to the ball before letting the ball hit the floor,” Collins said. “Our team has a very defensively strong mindset and can do a great job anticipating where the ball will go next. But not only that, we may not get a lot of straight down blocks, but our block does a great job of funneling the hitters’ hits to our defenders.”
The season also came with individual honors and awards. White and Nieves made Region First Team and White was the Regional Player of the Year.
Santos, meanwhile, made Region Second Team, and Garutti was recognized with Region Honorable Mention.
Collins won Northeast District Region 21 2025 Coach of the Year.
“Such a bittersweet season, just because this sophomore group has really set the tone and the fire the last two years for this program, so losing them is going to be a great loss to the program,” Collins said in final thoughts about the season.
Looking ahead to next season, the Cougars will have four of their six starters returning.
“I want to repeat,” Collins stated. “We want another chance to go against that number one team. I think that the future looks bright.I think that the girls have a very strong chance of repeating and defintley just letting people know about the birthplace of volleyball.”
